Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Today was a better chemo day for Kelly. We added a couple new tricks that seem to help her. First, we had Dr. Loudon's (one of the neurosurgeons) wife come to the clinic this morning. She practices Chinese Medicine and accupunture. She taped little seeds on Kelly's wrists and left ear on pressure points. Kelly rubs them and they helped with her nausea. Today was the first time in a long time she hasn't gotten sick while receiving her chemo treatment. She got pretty nauseous a couple times, but rubbing on the seeds really seemed to help dissipate it, especially the ones in her ear.

She was also very happy to see Dr. Esparza today. He is the doctor that wrote the letter to her in the last post.

The other thing her nurse (coincidentally named Kelli and also has a twin sister) helped her to discover was that if she flushes her port herself, she can control the speed that it goes into her port. She she is now pushing the saline and heparin through her port herself. She also pushed her anti-nausea meds through her port. (Photo below) Having this control helps her a lot. If anything goes into her port too fast, it makes her sick. She can taste the saline and heparin that flush her port. She has a whole routine to help with the tastes - scented lipgloss, tic tacs... anything that puts a good taste in her mouth.

Thanks to all of the generous donations we are receiving, we are about to raise our goal for Relay for Life again. Thanks to everyone who has contributed. The event is April 19, so for those of you that have asked, it is not too late to donate, and any amount is appreciated. Anything we can do to contribute to finding a cure for cancer is such a giving gift to all those affecting by cancer!Relay for Life team page - http://acsevents.org/goto/kellylaude

I always forget you are three hours behind - waited until AI went off and then thought you should be home earlier if things went well - was glad to read that they did! Acupuncture is neat stuff...enjoy Idol tonite Kelly!

Kelly-I am so happy to hear that you found something to help you with your nausea. Hope it continues to keep the nausea away.

Also your letter from Dr. Sam really is beautiful. Being sick can make people grumpy; so your strengh is very inspiring.

Keep dancing in the rain and remember...What Cancer Cannot Do

Cancer is so limited ... It cannot cripple love, It cannot shatter hope, It cannot corrode faith, It cannot eat away at peace, It cannot destroy confidence, It cannot kill friendship, It cannot shut out memories, It cannot invade the soul, it cannot reduce eternal life, It cannot quench the spirit, It cannot lessen the power of the resurrection.

Cool stuff. Why did we wait so long to try this? If it can keep away nausea, I wonder if accupuncture/pressure can keep away other unpleasant feelings. It may come in handy next time I tell you one of my stories.Love,Catalina Eddy

Hi Kelly!I am so glad that there is something that helps you feel a bit better and not get sick!!! I am so thrilled that you have a great group of doctors and nurses that seem to keep trying different ideas to make the process of getting your chemo treatments easier for you!! That is so awesome!! We love the photos of you!!

So Kelly, what do ya say... want to be a nurse when you grow up? Kasey never had a port... but if you left him alone with saline in a syringe and an IV... it would be cleard out before ya know it! I am glad that new chinese medicine trick worked for you.. Kathy.. you might have to share that idea with Katherine's mom from PBT. She is having a hard time with chemo. Glad all is well otherwise! Gonna go check your Relay page see how fabulous your doing!!Have a good day~Amy... Kasey's mom

Hi Kelly!So glad to hear about the latest treatment addition! How cool your doctors are open to other medical philosophies. And that it's helping! Yeah!! I bet it does help a lot too to control how things go in your port yourself - again what a great team you have! Of course, with you as captain it has to be great - just like Team Kelly! Even just at the dentist it has helped Jake to get to hold the spit sucker himself since he's not a big fan of going to the dentist!

NOW we're TALKIN'!I'm glad the Docs gave you control o' da FLO! Heck, I'd have come out there and showed you that one. Writing ads for chemo meds DOES come in useful once in a while.

You're looking great, inspirational as ever! NEWS FLASH!- Carter-cat's mom Diane is marrying my pal Pete... so NOW Carter has a REAL home!!! I still miss him as much as I miss your WayCool hair-bead thingees.

Kelly's Story

Kelly was diagnosed with a grade 4 glioblastoma multiforme (brain tumor) in July, 2007. She had surgery to have the tumor removed at Children's Hospital of Orange County in Orange, California. After one round of radiation and chemotherapy, she had another surgery to remove a recurrent tumor on October 22. She is receiving further treatment to try to prevent another recurrence. This website is to keep friends and family updated on her journey and her progress. She loves to read comments posted here for her!

Treatment Plan8/07 - 9/07 30 days radiation along with 42 days of oral temodar. Her first post radiation MRI showed recurrence of her tumor, so this treatment was changed.

11/16 Gamma Knife Radiosurgery - attempt to create a "boundary" to contain cancer cells to the one area of her brain

11/07 to present Irinotecan (also known as CPT-11) and Avastin given every other week

Leave a message for Kelly...

A big thank you to everyone who has posted messages to the blog. Kelly checks them everyday and it means so much to her to hear from all of you and know you are thinking of her. It really makes her happy to know so many people are cheering her on.

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